Argument hots up over lay-offs review

Employers and unions are at loggerheads following plans by
Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers to review arrangements affecting
collective redundancies.

The review will focus on whether the existing legislation is
working and see if more needs to be done to promote effective consultation with
employees.

Byers said, "There are concerns about the way employees
find out about large scale redundancies and the lack of consultation. I share
these concerns."

CBI director-general Digby Jones welcomed Byers’ opposition
to the European directive.He said,
"At the same time, we are quite prepared to talk about whether we should
fine tune our domestic redundancy laws, which are already pretty
demanding."

But the TUC’s general secretary John Monks thought there was
substantial room for improvement. He said, "It is far too easy for
multinationals to shed their UK workers and unacceptable that employees facing
the sack often hear it first from the media, not their employer."

Robbie Gilbert, chief executive of the Employers’ Forum on
Statute and Practice, criticised the Government for the way the review was
announced and called for widespread consultation.